Traditionally, summer is the
time for movie going. Hollywood teases us all year with the promise of bigger
and better blockbusters. This summer, The Pirates of the Caribbean II and
Superman Returns topped the list of box office smashes.

The summer of 2006 also saw
the beginning of a new movie phenomenon – the environmental epic. And
while these movies are not playing at every Cineplex in the country, they have
wide enough distribution to make them available to those who really want to see
them.

Topping the list is Who
Killed The Electric Car? and Al Gore’s much touted An Inconvenient Truth, a
film about the global warming crisis.I have to admit, I had high hopes for this movie.

After burning a half a tank
of gas to make the hour-long trek into Toronto to see it, I was disappointed.
An Inconvenient Truth is essentially a slick packaging of a keynote address
given by Gore who introduces himself as “the man who used to be the next
president.” The content of Gore’s presentation is a disturbing, scientifically
accurate and visually stunning account of how rapid climate change is
destroying the ecological balance of the planet. So far, so good.

What’s disappointing is that
between clips of the presentation, viewers are treated to shots of Gore’s own
personal story, which is largely told from the back seat of a limousine, or
from behind the wheel of a Cadillac or while rushing to meet a jet plane, some
of the most energy inefficient ways to travel.Viewers are also taken on a journey to the rolling hills of
the Gore farm, where the family made its fortune raising Black Angus beef and
growing tobacco, arguably two of the least environmentally responsible crops on
the planet. While Gore explains that the family stopped growing tobacco after
his sister died of lung cancer, they continue to raise cattle, a major source
of methane. Methane is 24 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse
gas.

If you can get passed the
inconvenient truth of Gore’s perceived hypocrisy, the film is well worth
watching. Unfortunately, An Inconvenient Truth provides Gore’s critics in the
oil industry a chance to diminish what could have been a brilliant opportunity
to shape the broader public opinion.

The good news is that a new
generation of films and mini-documentaries is moving like a carefully
engineered virus throughout the Internet and are coming to a computer screen
near you. Even better, you don’t have to burn a tank of gas to see them.

While some of these films are
amusing parodies, others challenge the very foundation of our beliefs. Still
others are thinly veiled attempts by the oil industry and others to discredit
the overwhelming scientific evidence that warns, among other things, about the
dangers of climate change.

The Competitive Enterprise
Institute definitely falls in the latter category. The CEI website offers a
series of commercials, including one that bashes Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”,
and promote the life-giving benefits of fossil fuels. Each concludes with the
line, “Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution, we call it life.” Having seen
the commercials, I call them propaganda!

For more on the environmental
impact of factory farming, check out two classic parodies The Meatrix and The
Meatrix II at www.meatrix.com

The most disturbing film I’ve
seen on the web is something called Loose Change, 2nd edition. The
movie questions the official account of what happened on September 11, 2001,
and raises some serious doubts about exactly who was responsible. Visit www.loosechange911.com. If you have
trouble accessing this website, it can also be downloaded from video.google.com

On a lighter note, www.jibjab.com offers a variety of political
spoofs to enjoy. My personal favourite is Big Box Mart, a parody of how big box
stores are stealing jobs and destroying the environment.